A good way to break in some new shoes

The first few years I lived in ABQ, whenever I'd get homesick, Paul would make me list all the things I did like about living here. Green chile on any/everything and really nice weather were the top two things on my list. The hiking/walking trails usually made it in there as well (although I'm still not as enamored with the mountain as many but I think we live on the "ugly" side).

Today's time-filler was an extra-long walk/hike this morning in place of going to the gym.  Our house is about a half-mile from a trailhead and national forest land.  During the summer, Paul and I try to go for a hike on Saturday mornings. We're never sure what to call what we do when we go to the trails--I guess it's technically hiking but it's not a very strenuous hike. There are some ups and downs and a little bit of rocky parts but for the most part, it's a pretty easy hike. I think the short trail is about a mile and the long trail is closer to two miles.

We both have hiking boots but they are a little much for this trail. Plus, mine are darn heavy. I wear them when we got up to the cabin since it's more off-road hiking up there. Regular tennis shoes work OK but since the ground is pretty sandy, you don't always get good traction on the downhill parts. So, last year we finally got smart and bought trail running shoes specifically for these hikes. They are lightweight like running shoes but have deeper treads on the bottoms. I don't know what I was thinking last year when we bought the shoes but for whatever reason, I bought the wrong size--a size 8 when I wear a size 7. I think I looked at the tag and saw the UK size (6 1/2), put them on, and just said the shoes were fine without thinking that these were way too big. I wore them probably a dozen times last year and I guess it's better to wear shoes that are too big rather than too small but I always felt like they were too loose (because they were). On Sunday, we were buying Paul new everyday shoes and some new gym shoes for me. And since we were there, I found new trail shoes that actually fit for me as well.

I decided to take advantage of the nice weather this morning to head to the trails. Since I was on my own, I walked up to the trailhead. Paul prefers to drive up there which I never understand and which normally causes us to have cranky words even after however many years of doing this. We haven't had a chance to go for a hike together this spring and probably haven't been up to the trailhead since September or so. It was nice since there weren't many people out this morning on the trail--some weekends, it's pretty crowded. Today, there was just enough people every so often that it wasn't too remote. I don't like it when there are lots of people but it's nice to see someone else every once in a while in case anything were to happen.

As I was walking, I kept thinking I really need to bring a camera with me. There are some pretty areas--I found myself thinking "Oh, this is my favorite part" and then "Oh, no, THIS is my favorite part"--and the view just can't be beat. From some spots, you can see Isleta to the south and I-don't-know to the north. We've had nice rains the past couple of weeks so the mountain is greening up and everything is in bloom. I have gotten smart and always grab a couple of tissues before we leave--I can only take so much nature. Even if I couldn't decide this morning what part I like best, I do know that one of my favorite areas is through a draw that is shady with lots of plants. You walk through that area and it's so lovely and nature-y and then just as quickly, you're on the service road for the forest rangers. I took the service road back down to the High Desert and then walked past all the big, lovely homes of High Desert back to my own happy little home. All in all, definitely better than a the treadmill at the gym.